(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to high-purity and corrosion-resistive ceramic materials, method of producing the same, and members for semiconductor manufacturing which utilize the ceramic materials.
(2) Related Art Statement
In accordance with an increase of memory capacities in super LSI, micro-fabrication technique has been progressed, so that processes requiring chemical reactions have been widely used. Particularly, halogen-based gases such as chlorine-based gases and fluorine-based gases are used as a deposition gas, an etching gas or a cleaning gas in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus requiring a super clean state.
In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as a hot CVD apparatus as a heater for heating a wafer in contact with such a corrosive gas, the semiconductor cleaning gas of a halogen-based corrosive gas such as ClF3, NF3, CF4, HF or HCl is used after the deposition. During the deposition, another halogen-based gas such as WF6 or SiH2Cl2 is also used as a film-forming gas.
Since silicon nitride is a compound containing Si as a main component constituting wafers, silicon nitride is used for members in semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, particularly chambers, together with Si, SiO2 and SiC.
Up to now, as a chamber member used in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, use is made of silicon or quartz glass. However, since silicon and quartz glass become high purity but have a low fracture toughness, chipping and cracks easily occur on their surfaces during a machining work, and thus this causes a generation of particles. Moreover, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, respective members are exposed to halogen-based corrosive gases or its plasma. For example, in the ether, corrosion of the members is accelerated with ion bombardment, or a component in the member is sputtered with plasma ion bombardment, thereby causing pollution of the wafers. Since a design rule approaches 0.1 xcexcm, such problems become more elicit than before. Moreover, in the present states, life of the members made of silicon or quartz glass is short. Further, the present applicant disclosed in JP-A-5-251365 that is a silicon nitride sintered body is exposed to a ClF3 gas at high temperatures, its surface state changes to generate particles.
An object of the invention is to provide corrosion-resistive materials used suitably for an application exposing to a corrosive gas such as members for semiconductor manufacturing, which achieve high corrosion resistance and decrease of particle generation due to an exposure to a corrosive gas, and wherein chippings and cracks do not occur easily during a machining work.
According to the invention, corrosion-resistive ceramic materials which are to be exposed to a corrosive gas comprise a ceramic including silicon atom wherein a percentage of respective metal elements other than metal elements constituting sintering agents and silicon atom is not more than 10 weight ppm.
Moreover, according to the invention, a method of producing the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials mentioned above comprises the steps of: preparing raw materials wherein a percentage of respective metal elements other than metal elements constituting sintering agents and silicon atom is not more than 10 weight ppm; and mixing the thus prepared raw materials by means of balls to which resins are coated. Further, according to the invention, members for semiconductor manufacturing comprise a base member made of the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials mentioned above.
The present inventors found that if silicon atom used as a main metal element of ceramic and a percentage of respective impurity metal elements in ceramic is made not more than 10 weight ppm, the corrosion resistance with respect to corrosive substances, particularly halogen-based corrosive gas or its plasma, is extremely improved and particle generation is decreased, thereby reaching to the present invention.
The corrosion resistance of the members according to the invention is extremely high as compared with, for example, quartz glass or silicon, and is also extremely high as compared with a normal silicon nitride sintered body or a silicon carbide sintered body. Such a relationship between a low amount of impurity metal elements and the corrosion resistance with respect to halogen-based corrosive gases or their plasmas has not been discussed up to now.
In addition, since the members according to the invention are made of a ceramic including silicon atom as a main metal component, chippings and cracks do not occur easily during machining, and thus it is possible to prevent particle generation due to chippings.
Further, since the members according to the invention are made of a ceramic including silicon atom as a main metal component and the percentage of impurity metal elements other than silicon atom and metal atoms constituting sintering agents is low, there is no fear of polluting the inside of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
The kind of ceramic including silicon atom as a main metal elements is not limited, but it is preferred to use a ceramic such as silicon nitride, silicon carbide and sialon, particularly silicon nitride and silicon carbide.
As metal elements constituting sintering agents, use is made of magnesium, silicon, yttrium, zirconium, elements belonging to lanthanide series, ytterbium and cerium.
In the preferred embodiment, a silicon nitride sintered body is used and the metal elements constituting sintering agents are selected from a group of magnesium, silicon, yttrium, zirconium and elements belonging to lanthanide series. If these metal elements are included, it is possible to decrease the corrosion of the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials more and more. As the metal elements mentioned above, use may be made of metal elements which react with the halogen and form a stable haloid. Here, lanthanide series means La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu.
Particularly, it is further preferred to use (heavy) elements having a larger atomic weight (such as Sr, Y, and lanthanide elements).
Among the metal elements mentioned above, it is further preferred to use one or more elements selected from a group of magnesium, yttrium, ytterbium, cerium, samarium and lanthanum.
It is most preferred to include the metal elements mentioned above in the form of oxide, but it may be possible to include them in the form of element itself or nitride.
In the silicon nitride sintered body, if an amount of additives is too large, a so-called boundary phase is precipitated to a level such that it is easily detected by XRD, and selective corrosion due to the difference in the etch rate between the boundary and the silicon nitride particle is promoted. As a result, particle pollutions easily occur, and the rate of being sputtered by ion bombardment becomes larger. Moreover, since the thermal expansion coefficient becomes larger, the positional relation with respect to the wafer is varied in response to a variation of thermal expansion coefficient when heated, and thus, the yield ratio of manufacturing devices becomes worse. Therefore, it is preferred that the amount of metal elements constituting sintering agents (preferably metal elements selected from a group of magnesium, silicon, yttrium, zirconium and elements belonging to lanthanide series) is not more than 15 mol % with respect to 1 mol of ceramic as calculated in the form of metal elements. This amount is further preferred to be not more than 12 mol %.
Moreover, in the case of adding sintering agents, it is preferred that the amount of metal elements constituting sintering agents (preferably metal elements selected from a group of magnesium, silicon, yttrium, zirconium and elements belonging to lanthanide series) is not less than 1.0 mol % with respect to 1 mol of ceramic as calculated in the form of metal elements.
In the silicon nitride sintered body, an amount of metal elements other than the metal elements constituting sintering agents is set to be not more than 10 weight ppm respectively.
More preferably, a total amount of elements in Group 1a and elements in Group 4a-3b of the Periodic Table is not more than 50 weight ppm.
The elements in Group 1a of the Periodic Table are Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs. The elements in Group 4a-3b are Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Re, Fe, Ru, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, Hg, B, Al, Ga, In and Tl.
It is known that the alkaline elements (Group 1a) and those in Groups 4a-2b afford adverse effects upon the wafer process. However, the present inventors found that the elements in Group 3b such as Al are unfavorable as a component for the corrosive-resistive members. That is, if the elements in Group 3b are incorporated into the silicon nitride sintered body, the elements are likely to be sputtered and may be adhered to the wafers upon receipt of ion bombardment. Such adhesion causes metal contamination or poor etching.
Moreover, in the preferred embodiment, ceramic is the silicon carbide sintered bodies. Particularly, it is most preferred that the silicon carbide sintered body includes carbon and boron carbide or boron nitride. In this case, corrosion resistance with respect to corrosive substances can be further improved.
It is preferred to set an amount of carbon in the silicon carbide sintered body to 0.5-2.0 weight %. Moreover, it is preferred to set a total amount of boron carbide and boron nitride to 0.5-2.0 weight %.
Also in the silicon carbide sintered body, it is necessary to set an amount of respective metal elements other than those consisting of sintering agents to 10 weight ppm or less.
Also in the silicon carbide sintered body, it is preferred to set a total amount of the elements in Group 1a and the elements in Groups 4a-3b of the Periodic Table to 50 weight ppm or less. The elements in Groups 1a and 4a-3b are explained above.
In the present invention, a method of producing corrosion-resistive materials is not limited. As one of the producing methods, the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials can be produced as follows. That is, high purity powders such as silicon nitride powders, silicon carbide powders and so on are prepared. The thus prepared high purity powders are mixed to obtain raw material powders. In this case, sintering agents may be added if necessary.
Then, the thus obtained raw material powders are sintered under an uniaxial pressure, while being surrounded with carbon having an ash amount of 0.5 weight % or less in an atmosphere of 1-5 atm in N2 pressure in the case of silicon nitride producing or in an atmosphere of 1-5 atm in Ar pressure in the case of silicon carbide producing, thereby obtaining a sintered body. The sintered body is worked in such a manner that the pressurized face of the sintered body becomes a corrosion-resistive face, thereby obtaining a corrosion-resistive member.
In this manner, it is necessary to use high purity powders and to control in such a manner that no impurity metal elements are included therein at all the producing processes.
However, the present inventors found the following phenomena. That is, even if attention is taken to all the producing processes in such a manner that impurity metal elements are not included therein, it is difficult to control an amount of respective impurity metal elements in the sintered body to a level of 10 weight ppm or less.
The present inventors discussed this phenomena and found that a slight amount of respective impurity metal elements is added into a formed body from the balls during the mixing process and remains in the sintered body, thereby exceeding 10 weight ppm of impurity metal elements. That is to say, use is made of silicon nitride balls when producing the silicon nitride sintered body, and also use is made of silicon carbide balls when producing the silicon carbide sintered body. However, theses balls themselves are a sintered body and it is necessary to add some kinds of additives so as to reduce porosity and to obtain a dense body. Therefore, it is assumed that a little part of the components in these balls moves into the raw material powders during the mixing process.
In order to remove this drawback, the present inventors try to coat the balls with resins. As a result, it is found that an amount of respective impurity metal elements is not increased in the sintered body and it can be controlled to a level of 10 weight ppm or less.
Resins used for coating the balls are not limited, but it is preferred for example to use nylon.
The main body of the ball to be coated with resins is not limited, but it is preferred to use balls made of, for example, steel, carbon or polymer materials.
Moreover, it is preferred to coat at least inner faces of a mill to be used during the mixing process. As such a mill, use is made of trommel, attrition mill and so on. Moreover, as the resins for coating, it is possible to utilize resins used for coating the balls as mentioned above.
It is preferred to use silicon nitride raw materials as the xcex1 type. The xcex1 type can be easily obtained at a high purity. As a target, a total amount of elements in Groups 1a and 4a-3b is preferably not more than 200 weight ppm. An average particle size of the raw materials is preferably not more than 1 xcexcm.
Incorporation of a slight amount of chlorine or fluorine into the raw material powders is effective for making the sintered body more pure. Chlorine and/or fluorine is preferably contained in a total amount of 20-1000 weight ppm. Neither chlorine nor fluorine is necessarily contained in the raw materials, and they may be added externally to the raw materials as additives.
The addition method of the sintering agents may be selected appropriately, and their oxide powders are easily available. Other than oxide, use may be made of compositions generating oxides by heat (precursor of oxide) such as nitrate, sulfate, oxalate and alkoxide. Moreover, the compositions such as alkoxide are dissolved into a solvent so as to obtain a solution, and then the thus obtained solution may be added into the raw material powders.
The raw material powders are mixed and granulated by appropriate methods, and molded for example by the mold press method to obtain a formed body. The thus obtained formed body is enclosed with a high purity carbon sheet, which is sintered at about 1700-1900xc2x0 C. under a N2 pressure of 1-5 atm according to the hot press method. After the sintered bodies are obtained, they are worked into desired shapes by various working methods in such a manner that their main planes may be exposed faces.
A carbon member such as the carbon sheet or the activated carbon has preferably an she amount of not more than 0.5 wt %, more preferably not more than 10 weight ppm.
The corrosion-resistive ceramic materials according to the invention are applicable to various articles. As such articles, mention may be made of electromagnetic wave transmission windows, high frequency electrode devices, high frequency plasma-generating tubes and high frequency plasma-generating domes. Moreover, the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials according to the invention may be used as a substrate for a susceptor upon which a semiconductor wafer is mounted. As such a susceptor, ceramic electrostatic chucks, ceramic heaters and high frequency electrodes may be recited. Moreover, the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials according to the invention may be used as substrates for various semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, including rings such as shadow rings, chamber liners, gas shower plates, nozzles, dummy wafers, lift pins for supporting semiconductor wafers, shower plates and so on.
The corrosive gases to which the corrosion-resistive ceramic materials according to the invention are exposed are not limited, but a halogen-based corrosive gas or its plasma is preferred. Chlorine-based or fluorine-based gases or their plasmas are particularly preferred. As the chlorine-based gases, Cl2, BCl3, ClF3 and HCl may be recited. As the fluorine-based gases, ClF3, NF3, CF4 and WF6 may be recited.
[Experiment]